McKey v. August

Before
the Court is the plaintiff's motion to stay proceedings
pending the conclusion of state criminal proceedings. For the
reasons that follow, the motion is GRANTED.

Background

This
civil rights lawsuit by a former employee of St. John the
Baptist Parish Library concerns allegations of reverse racial
discrimination and deprivation of continued family health
insurance coverage without due process of law.

In
early July 1986, the Library Board hired Susan Dillard McKey
to work as an Assistant Director at the Central Library. In
2008, Ms. McKey was relieved of her responsibility for
supervising the library branches in Reserve, Garyville, and
Edgard. In 2009, Ms. McKey was relieved of the responsibility
for tracking and handling the Library's fixed assets, at
the request of the Library Board's auditor. In 2013, Ms.
McKey was relieved of her supervisor responsibilities over
the Technical Services Department.

As of
September 23, 2013, Ms. McKey alleges that she was a member
of the Louisiana Parochial Employees' Retirement System
and had over 33 years of creditable services in the
retirement system and that, as of that date, she effectively
retired by opting to participate in the Deferred Retirement
Option Plan pursuant to La.R.S. 11:447. She alleges that her
entry into the DROP program had been approved and,
“[a]t the time of her retirement, the Plaintiff had met
all of the eligibility requirements for retirement pursuant
to La.R.S. 11:441.” She further alleges that, as of
September 23, 2013, she acquired a vested property right in
and to her retirement benefits, including continued health
insurance coverage.[1]

Roberta
Zeno August was hired by the Library Board as the Director in
2014. On January 29, 2015, Ms. McKey completed a form
describing her job duties and the amount of time spent on
each task. During the week of April 27, 2015, Ms. August met
with Ms. McKey over three days to discuss her job duties and
role as Assistant Director. On April 29, 2015, Ms. August
held a “continuation meeting” with Ms. McKey to
review the job description of Assistant Director and the
position's duties and responsibilities. That same day,
Ms. August demoted Ms. McKey from Assistant Director to
Acquisitions/Cataloger Librarian.

After
going home early, Ms. McKey returned to the Library on April
29, 2015 and was captured on surveillance video removing
items between 8:30pm and 8:50 pm. It was discovered that Ms.
McKey had removed physical documents from her office and
apparently also had deleted files form the hard drive of her
computer and her home directory on the Library's server.

After
being demoted, Ms. McKey never returned to her position;
rather, on May 4, 2015, she requested and was granted leave
under the Family Medical Leave Act. That same day, Ms. August
gave notice of her intent to resign as Director of the
Library, effective August 21, 2015. On May 7, 2015, Ms.
August wrote Ms. McKey, requesting the return of documents
that she was recorded removing from the library. On May 13,
2015, Ms. McKey returned some, but not all, of the items she
had taken from the library. On May 19, 2015, Ms. August
called Ms. McKey several times to arrange a meeting with her
and Houston and to ask questions about the files taken from
her office and deleted from her computer. Ms. McKey said that
she would not attend the meeting without counsel if Houston
was present. The last time Ms. August called, the phone went
“dead.” Ms. August called Ms. McKey again, but
she did not pick up.

On May
27, 2015, Ms. August sent Ms. McKey a letter notifying her of
her termination. No one recommended to Ms. August that she
terminate Ms. McKey's employment. Ms. August's
reasons for terminating Ms. McKey were set forth in the May
27, 2015 letter. The letter stated that Ms. August had
“discovered most of the files in [McKey's] office
were empty and files on the computer [she was] assigned were
deleted, ” and that “the removal of those files
was a violation of policy that prohibits the removal of
library property without authorization of the
director.” The letter recounted Ms. August's
efforts to have Ms. McKey return files and answer questions
about the files she deleted. The letter concluded:
“[g]iven [Ms. McKey's] actions and your failure to
discuss the removal and deletion of the files, you are being
terminated from the St. John the Baptist Parish Library
System.” On August 5, 2015, Ms. McKey was arrested by
St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff's Office. On December
1, 2015, the District Attorney for the 40th
Judicial District filed a bill of information charging Ms.
McKey with one count of second degree injuring public
records; the bill of information was later amended to include
two counts of attempted simple criminal damage to property
and 51 counts of injuring public records, each charging
instances of Ms. McKey damaging computer files.

On
August 5, 2016, Ms. McKey sued Roberta Zeno August, St. John
the Baptist Library Board of Control, and St. John the
Baptist Sheriff's Office.[2] Ms. McKey alleges that Ms.
August, an African-American, is liable under 42 U.S.C. §
1981 for creating a hostile work environment and
discriminating against her based on her Caucasian race,
culminating in her wrongful termination. Ms. McKey also
alleges that the Library Board was liable under 42 U.S.C.
§ 1983 for violating Article I, § 10 and the
Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, Article I,
§ 23 of the Louisiana Constitution, and Article I,
§ 2 of the Louisiana Constitution by denying her
continued family health insurance coverage allegedly promised
to her. After the Court granted St. John the Baptist Library
Board of Control's motion to dismiss the plaintiff's
Section 1983 claim based on a Fourteenth Amendment protected
property right to continuing health insurance benefits as one
who retired, the Court granted the plaintiff an opportunity
to amend her complaint, which she did. In her amended
complaint, McKey made allegations against Ms. August, in
addition to the Library Board, for the denial of a right to
continuing health insurance benefits; she also asserted a
claim against both defendants for violations of Louisiana
state contracts law (a claim she had previously abandoned).

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The
Library Board moved to dismiss the amended complaint against
it and August joined in the motion to dismiss insofar as the
plaintiff alleged claims against her based on a right to
continued health insurance benefits. After initially granting
the motion to dismiss the plaintiff&#39;s amended claim based
on her purported Fourteenth Amendment right to continued
health insurance benefits, (see Order and Reasons
dtd. 5/3/17), the Court reconsidered its ruling pursuant to
Rule 54(b) when it determined that, accepting all of the
allegations as true, Ms. McKey had stated a plausible claim
for relief. See Order and Reasons dtd. 7/6/17. The
defendants have since filed a motion for summary judgment on
liability as well as a motion for summary judgment on
damages. The pretrial conference is scheduled for August 31,
...

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